The further adventures of Karl and his pink skinned buddy
This is part 4 of the series titled, The Stray Dog
Check the bottom of the article for links to previous articles in the series.
Karl looking back at my red faced trudge up the canyon road (Image by Krazy Uncle)
10:00pm Sunday 16th
Sunday morning broke clear, clean and bright with the promise of the warming days ahead. We’ll be getting temps close to 80° over the next three days or so. It’s going to be nice and sunny until Wednesday night when we could get some much needed rain for the newly planted peas.
I wandered around the yard with Karl and he sniffed and marked the yard in all the appropriate places. There is a ravine beside my house about 50’ out the back door that is for water runoff, I have never seen water flowing down it in the two springs I’ve spent here. By the old cattle corral the ravine is about 50’ wide and about 20’ deep, when there are no leafs on the trees and bushes I can see a wide area that looks like a bedding area for deer and other animals. Karl loves to climb down the steep sides of that area of the ravine and poke around. Now with the overgrowth of trees and bushes, plus the dried tumble weeds I can’t see what he’s doing, but I can hear him rooting around down there and sniffing out whatever has lived there, or is living there. (Turns out he was hunting bunny rabbits, not catchin' bunnies, just huntin'). He likes it so I’m happy if only slightly concerned, but I have to let him be a dog, so…
When I got back from town Karl and I went for another walkabout up the hill and down into the canyon. It’s fun to watch Karl chase butterflies, I have yet to see him catch one, but I think the sport is really in the chase for Karl anyway.
Our walkabout was fairly uneventful today, no rolling in the stinky places, and Karl seemed to appreciate the water I brought for him this time.
Ah, cool clean water... (Image by Krazy Uncle)
When we got back I made sure Karl had water in his dish and food in his bowl and by now it was one o’clock and I decided to eat and have a beer after I showered. I started dozing off perusing the net, and finally got up and took a proper nap.
Once refreshed, I went out the front door of my house and sat on the porch calling Karl. This is the first time I did that and I wanted to see if he’d come to my voice and whistles. It took a few minutes but he came running up to see what all the ruckus was about. I had chicken in my pocket wrapped in plastic, but before I gave it to him I wanted to walk around the yard again. Over by the corral he hunted in the ravine again. (bunnies!) I suspect he spent time down there before he made his presence known to me last week. (bunnies!) Wow, Karl’s been with me seven days now, it’s been a fun journey gaining his trust. A week ago I couldn’t get within 50’ of him, now we’re almost petting buddies.
There were three breakthroughs today, the first came when I got him to play with me in the yard. Normally with a dog I can kind of slide or stomp my foot down and sorta lunge at the dog and he’ll drop and then jump up and circle me, and then we can repeat the pattern and the dog will run up and stop crouching and then run around me again. We’ve all done this with dogs and puppies before, and they all love playing that game, talking playfully, and excitedly adds to the game. My concern when I started this game with Karl was he going to misunderstand my intentions and not see them as a game. But, he figured it out pretty quickly and was racing around me just like the puppy he once was.
The second breakthrough was when I fed him chicken on the front porch, and it was small but significant. Before, when Karl took chicken from my hand he’d immediately pull back if the chicken crumbs were too small for his interest. I knew he could smell any remains from the chicken piece I just gave him, but he wasn’t having any of it. But, today he was licking my fingers and even reached up to lick my thumb, so that is progress no matter how small. It wouldn’t take much for me to actually just reach out and just touch him, but if I try he pulls back, and so using all my will I respect his wishes and don’t push the contact thing.
And, the final breakthrough came after the coyotes started singing as I was writing this update. I went out and kept Karl company for a little while. We walked in the yard, and I didn’t see anything nor did I expect too, the coyotes were probably a mile or so away, but sending a signal they are in the neighborhood. When I came back into the house I decided to see if I could entice Karl to come in just in case our neighbors decided to come and play. I typed this update with the door open and Karl whined at the door casing and whined some more. I talked to him and he finally came in and went out, and then he came in further and then he went back out and just stayed outside whining at the door way. At least I know I can get him to come in if needed, and once I get him cleaned up I’ll be more persuasive in my efforts – chicken seems to break down many barriers.
This is the end of today’s update, stay tuned for more.
The Stray Dog part 1 is here: @krazyuncle/the-stray-dog
The Stray Dog part 2 is here: @krazyuncle/the-stray-dog-part-2
The Stray Dog part 3 is here: @krazyuncle/stray-dog-part-3